


Finally Gone Mad

by jazzysoggy



Series: The Second Hour [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Time Lord Rose Tyler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27598898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jazzysoggy/pseuds/jazzysoggy
Summary: After the loss of the Ponds, Rose has finally given up on the universe and turns her back on it. She decides to live the remaining of her days being strategically anti-social during the 19th Century, on a cloud in a box. But her plan goes awry when she's followed by an impossible woman.Rewrite of Original
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: The Second Hour [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018302
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Finally Gone Mad

Rose takes a few drinks at the Rose and Crown bar, trying to drink her sorrows away to no avail. Even though she knows the alcohol have no effect on her body, she continues to drink, trying to keep her mind off the Ponds, the lovely couple she could've saved. How she wished she had stopped Rory from being taken by the angel, how much she wished she had convinced Amelia to stay. She thought of how it wasn't fair, for 400 years, going around and saving the universe, just like the Doctor, and the universe just didn't care. So she had decided to stop trying, as the universe would never pay her back fairly for her deeds, always taking away those closest to her. And deep down inside, she knew she had hurt everyone she met. Martha became a soldier after meeting her. River would eventually die in the Library, and she never got a normal life thanks to her. Amy and Rory were stuck in the past, while their parents never getting to see them again. So she drank, and thought, maybe that may dull the pain. She had contemplated using the Chameleon Arch and turn herself back into a normal human, where the pain will just be a dream but decided that wouldn't be fair to the TARDIS. Soon, she finishes her drinks and walks out of the bar, preparing to head back to the TARDIS. She hastily walks past a short woman and a snowman.

"Did you make this snowman?" the woman asked.

"No," Rose emotionlessly replied.

"Well, who did? Because it wasn't there a second ago, it just appeared from nowhere," the woman said.

That got Rose's attention, and she slowly walks back to the snowman and takes her screwdriver from her pocket. She observes the snowman, circling and grabbing some snow off of it, before sighing. She had promised herself she wouldn't go back to this life, and she was going to make sure that promise stuck.

"Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen," Rose told the woman.

"What, snow that can remember? That's silly," the woman scoffed.

"What's wrong with silly?" Rose asked the woman.

"Nothing. Still talking to you, ain't I?" 

"What's your name?" Rose asked the woman, who seemed full of the innocence and energy she all too long ago had. A perfect companion if she still took them.

"Clara."

"Nice name. Clara," she says softly before walking away, "You should definitely keep it. Goodbye!"

Clara runs around the corner, curious about the brooding strange woman who wasn't wearing a dress, unlike most women, instead wearing trousers and a thick trench coat, like some of the men in the bar.

"Oi! Where are you going? I thought we were just getting acquainted," Clara said to Rose.

Rose turns to face Clara, before softly saying, "Those were the days," each word full of nostalgia. Rose then turns back and walks towards a carriage, and soon the carriage departs. Clara starts to make her way back to the inn, before deciding to follow the woman, running after her carriage.

"How refreshing to see you taking an interest again. Was she nice?" Vastra says into the phone. 

"I just spoke to her," Rose simply said, tired of all these people trying to get her back to the adventure. Why couldn't they just leave her alone and let her be?

"And made your usual impact, no doubt," Vastra said.

"No, no impact at all. Those days are over," Rose sadly said.

"You can't help yourself. It's the same story every time. And it always begins with a name," Vastra continued.

"She'll never be able to find me again," Rose angrily said, "She doesn't even have my name! Rose Tyler."

And suddenly, Clara pops from the top of the cage, "Rose Tyler?”

Rose just looks at her in shock, unable to process what is occurring.

\--------------------------------

"They've taken samples from snowmen all over London. What do you suppose they're doing in there?" Strax says to Rose.

"This snow is new. Possibly alien," Rose comments, "When you find something brand new in the world, something you've never seen before, what's the next thing you look for?" she says thoughtfully to herself.

"A grenade," Strax answered. 

"A profit!" Rose spat, "That's Victorian values for you." Always about money, that seemed to never change, she thought. Whether it was the past, present, or future, it would always come down to money.

Strax then suggested a full-frontal assault on the institute, but Rose just tuned him out. She wasn't going back to this life, full of violence and adrenaline. She didn't see the point in it.

"Couldn't we at least investigate?"

"It's none of our business," Rose says as she starts walking. The last thing she wanted to do was to get back to the old life. Maybe that's why the TARDIS landed her here, she was trying to get her to run again when she clearly didn’t want to.

"Sir, permission to express my opposition to your current apathy?" 

"Permission granted," she tiredly said.

"Sir, I am opposed to your current apathy."

Rose just stares at him. If she were still the pink and yellow human or the imaginary friend, she might have chuckled or smiled at what Strax said, but she was no longer either of those people. 

"Thank you, Strax. And if ever I'm in need of advice from a psychotic potato dwarf, you'll certainly be the first to know," Rose sarcastically says, clapping her hands around Strax's head.

"But if the snow is new and alien, shouldn't we be making some attempt to destroy it?" Strax reasoned, "Be reasonable."

Rose puts a finger to his lips.

"It is not our problem," Rose starts. "Over several hundred years of saving the universe, Strax, you know the one thing I learned? The universe doesn't care." 

\--------------------------------

Rose attempts to get Strax to hand her the memory worm, but Strax didn't use the gauntlet, therefore forgetting that he was going to grab the memory worm each time he touched it. _What an Idiot_ , she thought to herself. She finally manages to contain the memory worm before snowmen started appearing out of nowhere. She manages to get Clara to make the snowman disappear by getting her to imagine them melted. Rose then orders Strax to take Clara back to the inn, but Clara manages to escape and trails Rose. Rose starts humming as she climbs over the fence, feeling a little better now. She observes the area before she pulls down a ladder from thin air. Clara watches the already strange woman do something even stranger. Rose then proceeds to climb up the ladder, and the ladder disappears into thin air. Clara approaches the area where the ladder disappeared, before jumping up and attempting to pull it down herself. She manages to latch on and pull it down to the ground, before climbing in herself. She makes her way through the staircase before arriving at the top of the clouds, spotting the TARDIS, and knocking on it. 

"Hello?" Rose calls out as she exits the TARDIS. Clara hides, before making her way down the staircase. 

"Weird, I could've sworn I heard someone knocking..." Rose said, trailing off before shaking her head and heading back into the TARDIS.

\--------------------------------

The TARDIS phone soon rings, and Rose goes to answer it.

"Yes? What? I'm trying to read," Rose answers, weary of what she would hear on the other line.

"Miss Clara and her concerns about the snow, I gave her the one-word test," Vastra says, trying to bring back the energy Rose used to have.

"That's pointless," Rose sighed, "What did she say then?"

"Pond.

Strax has already suggested where to start investigating."

The phone line goes dark.

\--------------------------------

"Danger. Danger," the snow alerts.

"What's wrong?" Doctor Simeons asked.

"There is danger here. An intelligence. An intelligence beyond anything else in this time and place," the snow warns.

"Doctor Simeon, sir. There's someone demanding to see you," a servant rushed in.

"No callers, not in here, not ever. Did he leave his name?" Simeon asked.

"It's a woman, sir," the servant answered, "She said her name was Sherlock Holmes."

Rose then walks straight in, wearing a trenchcoat and deerstalker, using a cane and pipe.

"Oh, nice office. Big globey thing. Now, shut up, don't tell me! I see from your collar stud you have an apple tree and a wife with a limp. Am I right?" Rose says, trying to put up her best impression of Sherlock Holmes. In times like this, she wished she had indulged more in literature when she were younger. 

"No."

"Do you have a wife?"

"No."

"Bit of a tree? Bit of a wife? Some apples? Come on, work with me here," Rose exacerbated.

"I enjoy The Strand magazine as much as the next man, but I am perfectly aware that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, nor is he a woman. Get out!" Simeon ordered.

"Do you have a goldfish named Colin?" Rose attempted again.

"No," the servant responded.

"Thought not. Now, ooo. I see this is one of your business cards. It says so on the front."

"Who are you, and What are you doing here?" Simeon interrogated as he ripped the business card out of her hand.

"This. Wakey, wakey!" Rose says as she runs over to the globe and bangs her cane on it.

"That is highly valuable equipment. You must step away now," Simeon warned.

"We are the Intelligence," the snow said.

"Ooo. Talking snow. I love new things," Rose said excitedly.

"You are not of this world," the snow stated.

"That’s not technically true, but nice try. Let's see," Rose says as she walks around the globe. " Multi-nucleate crystalline organism with the ability to mimic and mirror what it finds. Looks like snow. Isn't snow," Rose said, flaunting her knowledge.

"You must leave here now," Simeons warned again.

"Shut up, I'm making deductions. It's very exciting. Now, what are you, eh? A flock of space crystals? A swarm? The snowmen are foot soldiers, mindless predators. But you, you're the clever one. You're Moriarty."

Simeons then rings an alarm, and Rose sonic the doors shut.

"So, you turn up on a planet, you generate a telepathic field to learn what you can, and when you've learnt enough, what do you do? You can't conquer the world using snowmen. Snowmen are rubbish in July. You'll have to be better than that. You'll have to evolve."

"Sir, it appears to be stuck!" a servant shouted.

"What have you done? Have you locked the doors?" Simeon asked, alarmed.

"You need to translate yourself into something more, well, human," Rose deduces. She investigates his history, before finding the news about the governess that was frozen in a pond. She then makes her way out the window. The servant knocks the door down, but Rose is already long gone.

\--------------------------------

A knock on the door can be heard, and Rose answers it. She is met by Doctor Simeon and his snowmen henchmen. Rose’s expression quickly cools, and she menacingly confronts Simeon.

"Release her to us. You have five minutes."

Rose then closes the door, and paces for a second, before starting to think aloud.

"We need to get her out of here but keep her away from them."

"How?" Clara asked.

"With this," Rose said as she showed her umbrella.

"Those creatures outside, what are they?" Latimer asked.

"No danger to you, as long as I get that thing out of here. You, in there, now," Rose commanded.

She then walks up the stairs and releases the governess.

"What are you doing?" Clara asked.

"Between you and me, I can't wait to find out," Rose said with the energy she hadn't had in a while.

"Right, if you look after everyone here, then I can. Clara!" 

"Rose!" Clara shouts as they dodge the Governess's hand and rush up the stairs.

"That was stupid," Rose commented as they ran.

"You were stupid, too!"

"I'm allowed. I'm good at stupid! Jeopardy Friendly, that's who I am."

"That's the way to do it," the Governess said.

"Why does she keep saying that?" Clara asked in confusion.

"Mirroring. Random mirroring. We need to get on the roof," Rose shouts, before attempting to hit the Governess with her umbrella.

"This way!" Clara shouted as she grabbed Rose away from the Governess.

"No, I'm supposed to do the hand grabbing now!" Rose protested, not enjoying being the companion again, however temporary it may be.

\--------------------------------

The pair soon make it up on the clouds through the taller on the inside staircase.

“Do you actually live up here on a cloud, in a box?” Clara asked.

“I have done for a long time now,” Rose answered, swiftly walking towards the box.

“Blimey, you really know how to sulk, don't you?” Clara playfully commented.

“I'm not sulking,” Rose protested.

“You live in a box!” Clara exclaimed.

“That's no more a box than you are a governess,” Rose retorted.

“Oh, spoken like a man,” Clara reacted offendedly, “You know, you're like all the other men. Sweet little Clara, works at the Rose And Crown, ideas above her station.”

Rose swiftly walks into the box, opening the doors and making her way to the console.

“Well, for your information, I'm not sweet on the inside, and I'm certainly not…”

 _Boom_ , and the TARDIS interior lights power-up, revealing the console room in all its grey, futuristic glory. Much less organic lighting, and much colder, fitting for who Rose was now.

“…Little,” Clara finishes as she looks at the room in awe.

Rose beings to smile, before starting, “She's called the TARDIS,” she says as she gestures at the room. “She can travel anywhere in time and space.

And she's mine.”

400 hundred years was all it took for her to finally claim the TARDIS as her own, her only constant friend and companion.

“But it's. Look at it, it's,” Clara stutters as she begins to process what she’s seeing.

“Go on, say it. Most people do,” Rose said, chuckling as she sees Clara race towards the outside of the TARDIS, feeling each side, before racing back in, with the glee each past companion had. She at one time even had that glee.

“It's smaller on the outside,” Clara concluded.

Rose just stares, before saying, “Okay, that is a first.”

“Is it magic? Is it a machine?” Clara started firing off. Rose smiled, loving all the questions she asked, the energy making its way to her.

“She’s a ship,” Rose answered, flicking dials on the console.

“A ship?” Clara bewilderedly asked.

“Best ship in the universe,” Rose explained, and the TARDIS hums to her in delight.

Before Clara can ask whether there is a kitchen, a knock on the door can be heard.

“Stand back!” Rose commanded Clara as Rose takes her screwdriver out and opens the door, fearing she would be met with the governess. Instead, she was met by an idiot with pinstripes, a bowtie, floppy hair, and a chin that seemed like it would flop around in the wind.

“Oh, hello there!” the idiot said.

“How did you get here? Who are you?” Rose interrogated.

“I should be asking you the same question. Mind you, I got a canon,” the idiot said, showing what looks to be a watch on his arm. “I’ve found what I was looking for, but I haven’t found the person I was looking for,” the idiot said as he looked around.

“Who are you looking for?” Rose asked, sensing something familiar about the idiot.

“Rose Tyler. The last time I saw her, she was leaving the Library. Oh! Are you her companions?”

“You’re not really funny, you know. Pretending to be someone I know, and you didn’t even do it well. Seriously, bow ties?”

“Bow ties are cool!” the idiot exclaimed in offense.

“I suggest you turn away right now and go back to wherever you came from, and tell them that if they don’t stop, the Bad Wolf will personally come after them,” Rose threatened.

The idiot stares, before putting the pieces together.

“Rose?”

“If you want to fool me, you have to try better than that. It’s been 400 hundred years since I’ve seen him, and I don’t believe he’s coming back. Just like the Ponds, just like River.” Rose exclaimed.

The idiot is visibly shaken. “400 hundred years?”

Rose then pauses, putting the pieces together. Horrible fashion sense, not being able to recognize her even though she’s been in this body for hundreds of years, the eyes that were too old for his body, the same she saw in the mirror every day.

“What was the first you ever spoke to me,” Rose said softly, not believing the universe could be this kind.

“I said 'run'” the idiot said.

“Run,” both simultaneously said.

“Doctor?” Rose asked.

“Hello!” the Doctor replied.

Rose just stares at him, before quietly asking Clara, “Can you see him?”

“Of course I can!” Clara exclaims.

Rose then pauses, before fiercely hugging him.

“It’s been so long,” Rose sobbed out, breaking down on the inside, “There’s no one left. Martha, Donna, Amelia, Rory, River, even you left me.”

The Doctor just stood there, comforting Rose. To the Doctor, it seemed the universe had not been kind to her while he was away. For the Doctor, it had only been fifty years, and he had plenty of time to heal in the alternate universe, living in the moment. He thought of the irony, originally, he was the brooding mess, all broken and cold inside, and Rose was what helped fix him. Now, it seemed like it was his turn to be Rose’s ray of sunshine.

Their reunion is soon interrupted by a cry.

“Get off of me!” Clara shouts as the governess drags her out of the TARDIS.

Rose quickly sobers up and starts running towards Clara. The governess drags Clara off the cloud, and Clara tumbles. Rose swiftly grabs Clara’s hand.

“Caught you,” Rose said before she pulls Clara back up.

\--------------------------------

Rose and the Doctor soon finish off the Great Intelligence, finally dismantling Simeon's work bit by bit, until everything is back to normal again. Rose stares off into the distance, thinking about the clever TARDIS, managing to get her back into the world of adventure, and wondering how the Doctor made his way back to Rose. She then wonders what happened in the parallel universe, what happened to her mother and Pete, or her brother.

“Are you alright?” the Doctor asked Rose with concern.

“I’m fine. I’m always fine,” Rose answered, before walking back into the TARDIS. She knew she would eventually need to talk with the Doctor about what had happened to her, but right now, all she wanted to do was run.

“Next stop, 21st Century London,” Rose excitedly said to Clara as she flipped the lever, grinning madly as she races around the console, and the TARDIS dematerializes.


End file.
